IN THE LATE 1930s satirical comedies and theatrical performances were staged in the Rochester City Hall — now the Opera House.

Also in the same era others who appeared to showcase their talents at the same location were Johnnie Hebert, Joe Scagliotti, Ken Drapeau , Bill Marble, Paul and Lionel Bergeron, Bob Mortimer, Bill Weichert, Leo Dupont and Cy Longley.

Definitively, they were not comedians. They were members of the 1938 Rochester High School basketball team and they played their home games at the Opera House. Seats were removed from the cernter of the auditorium and fans occupied the sidelines and the balcony where as many as 500 attended games, especially when they played long-time rivals Somersworth and Dover High.

In 1939, Rochester played at the new Spaulding High school.

Somersworth’s Jim Fabiano, former Rochesteer resident and once on the Elks Lodge Hall of Fame Committee member, was a formidable opponent for the locals, once scoring 32 of the Hilltoppers points in a 43-39 win over Rochester at the Opera House. Bill Marble scored 13 points in the losing effort. Against Dover, the home team had to contend with such players as Dinny Fogarty and Nick Bograkas (who was selected on the Southeastern All-Star team) during the 1938 season.

However, it wasn’t always gloom and doom for the home team. Rochester High’s Bobby Mortimer scored a game-high ten points in a 44-29 victory over Laconia while Marble and Drapeau each had ten points defeating Farmington High 48-33 at the City Hall auditorium. Farmington’s Rollins took game-high honors with 17 points.

Rochester also had other independent basketball teams in 1938. Today they would be categorized as semi-pro or city league clubs. The Rochester Royals featured such stars of yesteryear like Harry Grierson (former Principal of Spaulding High School), Royal Edgerly, Sr. (former Rochester Mayor and Bowlaway Lanes proprietor) and Bernie Harrity (former owner of Fifield Printing on Union Street). Others on the roster included Ralph and Ray Witherell, Arnie Newcomb, Everett Crockett, Arthur Veno and Martineau. Among their opponents were Dover and Exeter.

The Royals played at the Opera House and the Humoresque then located at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and the Old Dover Road.

The Rochester Mechanics were more or less a city league-type team that included Bob Brooks, Harry Elliott, Ron Patch, Ken Emerson Billy Hall, Johnson, Spiers, and Chase.

Three quarters of a century ago low scoring games were the norm. To illustrate, in January of 1939, Portsmoth High defeated Rochester High, 47-4, in the Port City. Bill Kelleher scored the only points for Rochester. Today’s game is a far cry from when James Naismith in Springfield, Mass., asked the school janitor for two boxes, 18-inches square, to serve as “goals”. The janitor had no boxes but came up with two peach baskets, which Naismith tacked to the overhead running track, which happened to be ten feet off the gym floor.

In the first game in December 1891, one William Chase made hoop history by scoring the first and only basket. Strangely enough, while he nurtured the game and handed down rulings, Naismith only played basketball twice, in 1892 and again in 1898.

IN A RECENT story in Foster’s Daily Democrat, the Rochester School District’s Athletic Department reported since developing a pay-to-play program for youth hockey, fundraising efforts have improved and no parent has opted to pay the full sum of $1,000 per player. Families of Spaulding High hockey players have been able to maintain financial stability through fundraising as well as “working off” $100 for volunteerism. Last fall the team’s “ice time” for practicing at a nearby facility costs $33,000 per season, but the school budget only provided $15,000.

In 1989, a budget of $18,000 annually was needed to support the Spaulding High hockey team. At the time it translated to approximately over $600 to put a kid on the ice. Players absorbed the expenses of skates at a cost of anywhere from $150 to $300 — and sticks at $20-$25 a whack. Players will go through nearly two dozen sticks during the season.

SADLY WE RECENTLY learned of the passing of former Rochester resident and outstanding Spaulding High athlete Dominic Germain “Germ” Cote in Branford, Conn., at the age of 86. Cote will be best remembered by Rochester baseball followers as a mainstay on the Allain’s Jewelry semi-pro clubs in the late 40’s and early 50’s that played in the National Amateur Baseball championships in Wichita, Kansas. He wasraduate of Cushing Academy in Mass. And the University of Vermont, class of 1951, lettering in football, baseball and hockey.

Cote served in the United States Navy during World War II in the Soth Pacific where his ship, the Sommelsdikj was torpedoed by the Japanese on Christmas day, 1944. He was the head football coach for nine seasons at Branford with a record of 48-28, including an undefeated state championship season in 1958. Cote was inducted into the University of Vermont Hall of Fame, the Branford Sports Hall of Fame, the Rochester Sports Hall of Fame and the Branford Education Hall of Fame.

Lee Sanfacon is a life-long Rochester resident and a local sports historian.